Conventionally the manufacturing of composites would require a significant number of steps. In order to facilitate the proper bonding of two or more materials, (pressure and temperatures have to be applied under right chemical environment). There are a number of conventional methods by which composite materials can be manufactured and they involve the use of the following processes:                1) Primitive methods such as gluing, riveting or fusing different materials by applying adequate amount of force and heat        2) Conventional Axial Presses        3) Auto Claves (pressing two materials in an auto clave by means pressure in an gaseous medium)        4) Hydro Claves (pressing two materials in hydro clave by means of pressure in a fluid medium)        5) Vacuum Method (pressing two materials by means of differential pressure created by a vacuum. These two materials are bonded by means of a glue under vacuum pressure)        
Axial presses are most commonly used in order to make composite structures where application of high pressure is required.
It is extremely difficult to bond two materials with different physical properties. A suitable example would be materials such as High Density Poly Ethylene and Ceramic. The High Density Poly Ethylene is soft and flexible in nature whereas the ceramic is hard and brittle in nature. These materials require a high amount of pressure in order to facilitate their bonding. Axial presses can withstand such high pressure, but they also possess a drawback as they can be used to manufacture only simple shapes and require costly tooling. The costly tooling required in the case of axial presses involves the use of stainless steel or other high strength materials; these materials and tool making is expensive. Further the method of bonding involves a multiple number of steps.
Auto claves are also used to manufacture complex shapes out of composite materials. However, this method of manufacture is limited to low pressure of up to 25 bar. This is a major disadvantage when compared to the present invention as the present invention can be used to fuse composite materials which require a higher degree of pressure and temperature.
Vacuum methods are employed in order to create a differential pressure for the production of composite materials. The primary drawback of this process is that the maximum pressure which can be applied is not more than 1 bar.
Hydroclaves are also employed in the manufacture composite materials. They require the use of a separating layer between the high pressure medium and the stock. This separating layer is a vacuum bag (which is also used in Vacuum methods and in Auto-Claves) within which the composite stock is placed. This separating layer or the vacuum bag has to be separated from the end product once the process is complete. The subject invention has two major advantages over the use of hydroclaves. The separating layer or the vacuum bag does not have to be completely evacuated after the stock is placed and it does not have to be separated from the end product once the process is complete as it can be used as an integral part of the end product.
The conventional methods of bonding composite materials can also withstand high pressure. However, such methods would require a multiple number of steps to manufacture them. The present invention facilitates the bonding or the fusing of composite materials through a single step mechanism within a high pressure isostatic pressure reactor by pursuing/applying temperature and pressure profile as desired. The single step is defined here as the single step of introducing the composite stock into the high pressure reactor for processing the stock within the reactor.
EP Pat 07003314 discloses a method for the manufacture of a ballistic-resistant molded article comprising of the following steps:                a) Forming a stack by stacking 2 or more sheets comprising monolayers of unidirectional linear polyethylene fibers with an intrinsic viscosity of at least 8 dl/g measured in decalin at 135° C. and at most 30 Wt. % of a matrix material that consists of a thermoplastic polymer with a tensile modulus of at least 250 MPa, determined in accordance with ASTM D638, at 25° C., and whereby in the stack, the direction of the reinforcing fiber is at an angle α to the fiber direction in an adjacent monolayer,        b) Providing Isostatic pressurizing means;        c) Placing the stack in the Isostatic pressurizing means;        d) Consolidating the stack, at an elevated temperature and a pressure of at least 10 MPa (100 bar) into the ballistic-resistant molded article.        
Again this invention is limited to manufacturing ballistic resistant materials which would require a moderate amount of pressure. This prior art is mainly used for the manufacture of curved ballistic resistant materials. It utilizes the process of compression molding by which the consolidation of the constituent materials take place. The pressure is applied uniformly, but the drawback is that complex shapes of composite materials cannot be obtained using this process. Another important drawback is that once the consolidation is completed, the molded material has to be removed from the compression apparatus and further processed through mechanical techniques such as sawing, grinding and drilling. Methods of using Iso-Static Pressing to manufacture materials, while known, have not been applied to composite materials.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,628,122 and 8,628,821 discloses a method of forming a razor blade edge comprising: initially applying, by Isostatic Press (IP), of at least one polymeric material having an upper surface and a lower surface to at least one blade edge to form an iso statically-pressed coating on said at least one blade edge, wherein said iso statically-pressed coating ranges in thickness from about 10 nm to about 100 nm and wherein said razor blade is comprised of steel, Chromium (Cr), Diamond-like Carbon (DLC), Amorphous Diamond, or Chromium/Platinum (Cr/Pt).
In the above prior art, Iso-Static pressure has been applied to obtain a coating of a particular thickness on at least one end of the blade. It cannot be used to fuse materials as it lacks the presence of a pressurized chamber. Also it can only be used to create coatings which require a very moderate pressure of less than 100 bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,414,677 discloses a method of forming a dense, shaped article comprising at least about 95% by weight of a refractory material selected from a group consisting of carbides of tantalum, niobium or hafnium, nitrides of tantalum, niobium or hafnium, and alloys or powder mixtures thereof, wherein the article has a melting point of at least about 2900° C., a density of at least about 90%, a total porosity of no more than about 10%, and a total open porosity of no more than about 1.0%, wherein the article is a crucible adapted for use in crystal growth by physical vapor transport; and the crucible comprises a wall having a homogeneous structure across its thickness. U.S. Pat. No. 7,632,454 discloses a method of forming a dense, shaped article formed of a refractory material, comprising; providing a refractory material powder having a melting point of at least about 2900° C., the refractory material powder consisting of a refractory material selected from the group consisting of carbides of tantalum, niobium or hafnium, nitrides of tantalum, niobium or hafnium, and alloys or powder mixtures thereof; placing the refractory material powder in a mold configured to form the powder into a desired shape; treating the mold containing the powder at a temperature and pressure sufficient to form a self-supporting and shape-sustaining molded powder that conforms to the shape of the mold, wherein said treating step comprises applying an isostatic or uni-axial pressure; machining the shape-sustaining molded powder to further shape the molded powder; and sintering the shape-sustaining molded powder in an inert atmosphere at a pressure ranging from vacuum to about 10 atm, at a temperature and for a time sufficient to produce a dense shaped article having a density greater than about 90%, a total porosity of no more than about 10%, and a total open porosity of no more than about 1%. Both U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,414,677 and 7,632,454 utilize the principle of Iso-Static pressing, but does not involve the manufacturing of Composite materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,628,001 discloses a method for high pressure treatment of a product by means of an Isostatic press comprising a pressure chamber adapted to hold a first pressure medium, comprising the steps of: providing at least one closed container which holds a second pressure medium and a product whose temperature is below 0° C.; placing the container in the pressure chamber of the Isostatic press; pressurizing the pressure chamber by means of the first pressure medium; transferring a pressure change of the first pressure medium to the second pressure medium to subject the product held in the closed container to high pressure treatment; and keeping the temperature of the product below 0° C. throughout the high pressure treatment by absorbing heat which is generated by adiabatic temperature rise during the high pressure treatment.
In the case of the above patent, the temperature of the chamber has to be maintained at 0° Celsius and a pressure is created in one of the chambers which is transferred to the second chamber in order to subject the material to high pressure treatment. The drawback of this invention is that an artificial pressure has to be created using an Iso-static press which is transferred from one chamber to another chamber. This transferring of the pressure may not be uniform causing discrepancies within the final product. Further the temperature must necessarily be maintained at 0° C. while the pressure is being transferred from one chamber to another.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,615,745 discloses a method of reducing the porosity of a casting by subjecting the casting, in a heated state to isostatic pressure with a pressure medium, which method comprises locating the casting in a container, heating the container and the casting, thereafter placing the heated casting and surrounding container in a press chamber of a piston press, feeding a liquid pressure medium to the press chamber at a lower temperature than that of the container and casting, and applying pressure to the liquid pressure medium in the press chamber via the piston of the press, the container having at least one wall provided with a plurality of channels which allow the pressure medium to contact the casting, whereby the pressure medium extracts heat from the said at least one wall in passing through the channels into the interior of the said container. Even though a high pressure medium is being employed, the objective of the invention is to reduce the porosity of a casting using Iso-Static pressure whereas the objective of the present invention is to manufacture composite materials of physical and chemical properties significantly different from their constituent materials.
AU Patent 2011902721 discloses a method of manufacturing multi-layer articles containing processing liquid within a closed processing liquid filled circuit, a composite article process volume having an opening to facilitate loading and unloading, a pressurization system having means to increase or decrease the pressure within the closed processing liquid filled circuit, a process control system which includes a heating and cooling system. This invention has three major drawbacks. Firstly, the processing liquid used in this prior art is highly expensive silicone oil. Secondly, the processing liquid in this prior art is being circulated through circulation tubes in order to heat and cool the system so at to maintain a uniform temperature. At the end of the process, the sealable cover which in this case is the vacuum bag or the silicone bag, is removed from the end product and in order to do so, it has to be maintained at a pressure below atmospheric pressure. The silicone bag or the vacuum bag need to be evacuated before placing it in the high pressure medium.
It can be seen from the above-mentioned prior arts that there are a number of drawbacks to existing methods, which the subject invention will overcome. The subject invention involves the use of immersion heaters which heats the heat transfer oils and the hydraulic fluids internally thereby reducing the amount of energy and time required to achieve adequate levels of temperature. The surface of the immersion heater is designed in such a way that it acts as a heat exchanger and it transfers heat to the pressurizing medium within which the composite pouch is placed. The apparatus also comprises of another heat exchanger through which cold water is circulated. This heat exchanger facilitates cooling of the chamber by effectively carrying the excess heat away from the chamber during the cooling cycle and as and when required. Thus it helps in maintaining a uniform level of temperature throughout the process. The processing liquid i.e.; the heat transfer oil and hydraulic fluid is present in the chamber when the sample is introduced and there is no question of circulation involved in the subject invention.
Also the sealable cover is removed in the prior art, whereas in the present invention, it does not have to be removed and at the same time it can be an integral part of the end product protecting from environment.
The subject invention uses the principle of Iso-static pressing in a High Pressure Reactor to produce complex shapes of Composite Materials at required temperature and pressure. The subject invention involves the application of different pressure and temperature profiles as desired to the composite stock placed within the composite pouch. Certain additives such as chemicals, catalysts, catalystic meshes, nano-powders, nano-abrasives and other materials required to achieve the desired properties of the consequent composite end product are added prior to sealing the composite pouch. This would facilitate the optimal bonding of the materials within the composite pouch. At the end of the consolidation process, the composite material does not have to be subjected to mechanical techniques of sawing or grinding to obtain the desired final dimensions. The pressure is transferred uniformly throughout the chamber and the end product obtained would be free of all discrepancies caused by temperature and pressure differences.